Recently, along with the rapid development of wired/wireless data communication technology and the broad distribution of communication networks, high-speed communication services such as the Internet have been widely popularized. In particular, as high-speed Internet service has been provided in households, conventional PC-based network technology has developed into home network technology for remotely controlling digital home appliances.
A home network system is a system for connecting digital home appliances, sensors, light fixtures, heating and cooling devices, gas devices, and so on over a wired or wireless local area network to control appliances desired by a user anywhere at any time.
Such a home network system typically includes a home server (or a home monitoring gateway) that functions as a master, a plurality of home network devices (hereinafter referred to as control target devices) that are monitored and controlled by the home server, and a controller that locally or remotely monitors and controls a plurality of control target devices through a connection with only the home server.
In this case, the home server is generally implemented on a residential gateway (RG) or a wall pad, and a controller is generally implemented in a wall pad, a TV, a cell phone, a computer, etc. The home server and the controller may be integrated and implemented as one device. For example, a TV may serve as the control device in addition to the home server.
In the home network system, the home server may automatically recognize control target devices, for example, a TV, a refrigerator, a lamp, a microwave, a sensor, a boiler, and a washing machine, which are connected to a home network through various physical media (e.g., a power line, a serial communication such as RS-232, Ethernet, etc.), and may display the recognized home network devices on a screen to control devices desired to be controlled by a user.
The controller monitors and controls a plurality of control target devices through communication with the home server.
In the home network system, the home server transmits data to or receives data from an external network, which is mainly implemented as an Internet network.
The user uses a control device such as a PC, a notebook, a smartphone, a tablet PC, a TV, a wearable device, and various remote controllers to access the home server located inside or outside the home and then access a plurality of home appliances connected to the home network inside the home.
In addition, when a plurality of electric devices are registered with an external server, the user accesses the plurality of electric devices registered with the external server via the external server, irrespective of the home server.
When the user uses the control device to monitor and control the control target devices inside the home, the use should select one of the control target devices, access the selected control target device over a network, perform authentication, and then monitor or control the control target device. Thus, it is difficult for the user to use the control device.
For example, home appliances such as an air conditioner or air cleaner for conditioning an air and a humidifier for adjusting humidity are usually controlled together. In this case, the user should inconveniently and inefficiently issue an operation control command to each electric device.